Norridgewock man stands trial for North Anson murder

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (NEWS CENTER) --- A man from Norridgewock is standing trial for allegedly shooting another man to death back in 2009.

Prosecutors say Robert Nelson murdered 60-year-old Everett Cameron, of North Anson over prescription drugs. The state argues he shot Cameron in the head while he was sitting in his pickup truck on a country road.

Both sides got to make their opening statements as the trial got started Monday inside Somerset County Superior Court in Skowhegan. The prosecution says Nelson had the motive to kill Cameron because the defendant was addicted to Oxycodone at the time. Cameron was getting prescriptions filled for that drug because he was battling cancer. The state says Cameron also had been selling his Oxycodone pills to Nelson and a number of other people in order to make money.

Nelson owed Cameron a small amount of money for pills. Prosecutors say the two men had plans to meet on Town Farm Road the afternoon of October 31, 2009, which was the day Cameron was found dead.

The state says a witness saw both men with their cars off the road. A gunshot was then heard around 2:15 p.m. by another witness. Cameron's fiance would later find his body inside the truck around 4 p.m.

Yet the defense argues the victim had been selling his pills to a lot of people. They feel the police zeroed in on their client too early in the investigation and overlooked possible suspects who would have had the same motive to kill Cameron.

There is no jury in this trial as the defense opted to not have one seated. It will be Justice John Nivison who will ultimately decide whether there's enough evidence to convict Nelson of murder.